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Brooke Smart Joins Tulsa Softball Staff
9/23/2010 12:00:00 AM | Softball
Sept. 23, 2010
TULSA, Okla. - The University of Tulsa Head Softball Coach John Bargfeldt announced today the hiring of former TU standout Brooke Smart as an assistant coach.
Smart, a native of Clovis, Calif., played outfield for the Golden Hurricane from 2006-09 and led TU to two Conference USA regular season and tournament championships, and to three NCAA Tournament appearances. She spent last year as an assistant coach at Catoosa High School and a student-assistant coach at TU while finishing her degree. Smart replaces Kirin Kumar who accepted an assistant coach position at North Carolina. Smart's responsibilities at TU will include coaching outfielders, serving as the dugout coach, and coordinating camps.
"One of the nicest things about having Brooke is that it provides a lot of continuity for us," Bargfeldt said. "She's been a part of this program for five years. That's as long as I've been here, and that's as long as Kirin was here as well. She was the exact type of fit that we needed."
Smart received her bachelor's degree in elementary education from Tulsa in May of 2010. This summer, Smart played softball in Germany, competing with the Demstadt Rockets of Bundesliga, the top German sports league.
"She has a lot of experience in the outfield, and in Germany she did a lot of pitching, so she will be able to pitch batting practice for us," said Bargfeldt. "The whole time she was here as a player, she was always very enthusiastic about showing recruits around on campus and giving tours. She's one of those people that is just going to do whatever you ask her to do."
During the fall of 2009, Smart was a student teacher at Wells Middle School in Catoosa and served as an assistant coach with the Catoosa High School varsity softball team. In the spring, she served as a student teacher at Sequoyah Elementary School in Tulsa, and helped the TU program as a student assistant coach.
Smart finished her playing career as only the fourth player in TU history to record 100 RBI and the fifth player to score 100 runs. She still ranks among the top 10 in 13 categories, including slugging percentage, on-base percentage, hits, runs, RBI, home runs, doubles, total bases, walks, and games played, starts, and at-bats. She was a First Team All-C-USA selection as a senior.
Throughout her career, Smart made big plays for the Golden Hurricane. As a freshman in 2006, she hit a three-run game-winning home run against Marshall in the C-USA Championship to send Tulsa to its first-ever NCAA Regional berth. In 2009, Smart scored the winning run against UTEP in the C-USA Championship, and hit a home run against Oklahoma in an elimination game at the NCAA Regional. She was also known to throw runners out at the plate from her position in left field.
For all Tulsa softball news and information, visit www.TulsaHurricane.com. Follow Tulsa Athletics on Twitter at www.Twitter.com/TulsaHurricane, and on facebook at www.facebook.com/TulsaHurricane.
